Parenting & Family Quote by Ben Stiller

Nostalgia is doing the casting here, and Ben Stiller is savvy enough to admit it without sounding sentimental. By foregrounding Paul Michael Glaser as the reason he wanted the role, Stiller frames his work less as a vanity project and more as a relay handoff: the movie isn’t just a gig, it’s a chance to touch the cultural object that raised him. That’s a familiar comedian move - self-deprecation by way of sincerity - but it also doubles as a defense against the usual cynicism around remakes. If this is a reboot, he’s telling you, it’s at least a reverent one.

The craft details matter: “I watched all the episodes” and “tried to get a feeling” is actor-talk that signals labor and humility. He’s not claiming to “be” Glaser or to outdo him; he’s studying rhythm, posture, the small behavioral code that fans unconsciously catalog. The subtext is a balancing act between fandom and authorship: honoring an icon without becoming cosplay. It’s also a wink at how much performance is imitation before it becomes invention, especially in comedy, where cadence and attitude are half the joke.

Contextually, Stiller is speaking from inside the Hollywood feedback loop where childhood TV becomes adult IP. He’s positioning himself as the ideal audience surrogate: the kid who watched religiously, now entrusted to translate that obsession into a new, bankable version. The line sells authenticity, but it also reveals the pitch: let me do this because I loved it first.